8/1/22 Trade Thread

What does everybody think of the trades today? I have 5 topics of discussion:

1.) Trading for Mancini is awesome because he’s a great person and persevered through cancer. He only has 10 HR but that’s a hollow stat because Camden Yards LF is the Anti-Crawford Boxes and he should have better power numbers at the Juicebox. Losing McDermott sucks but he’s almost 24 and had a 5.50 ERA in High-A and realistically projects as a RP. I’ll miss Siri because he was so fun to watch and played hard plus out of the 3 CFs of him, Chas, and Jake I think he would’ve been the most valuable to have in the postseason as a PR and Defensive Sub.

2.) Christian Vazquez fills a need of having 2 Catchers but giving up Enmanuel Valdez and Wilyer Abreu is a steep price for a rental C that might not even start over Maldy. Valdez was easily the most impressive player in our Minor League System with a 1.000+ OPS this season and Abreu had 78 BB and 15 HR in AA. Both were Rule 5 eligible so if we didn’t add them to the 40-Man Roster they were at risk of being picked by other teams, but man I think they would’ve been good pieces for a bigger name.

3.) I feel bad that Jake Odorizzi never got a real footing in Houston. He was brought on late as a panic signing after Framber broke his finger in Spring Training and was supposed to miss significant time (possibly all of 2021). He was injured a few times in his stint here but was actually a solid SP for us this season. Plus the hate he got was unjustified for the role he provided as an innings eater…I for one was too harsh on him like most people. I wish him the best and hope his new team has a better appreciation for his services than we did. But for what we are trying to do this year getting a proven LHRP was crucial and Will Smith has proven himself in the postseason…unfortunately for us.

4.) We will sit at 44 Players on the 40-Man roster when we add Mancini, CV, and Will Smith (the pitcher). We have 3 guys on the 60-Day IL (Lance McCullers Jr., Blake Taylor, and Josh James) which allows us to carry 43 players on the 40. Therefore we will need to DFA at least 1 person…and I think it will end up being Castro officially retiring 🙁

5.) With my calculations on the Payroll we should have enough to add somebody else for around $5M+(ish) which means we could add a decent CF or Josh Bell…

Just thought that since the day was over this could be a place to share some opinions on Click’s moves today.